Bankruptcy

SAN FRANCISCO Vallejo, Calif., on Tuesday asked a bankruptcy judge for permission to reject labor contracts and said it plans to cap interest payments on its outstanding municipal debt.

CHICAGO A federal judge yesterday set Nov. 3 as the trial date for former Bear, Stearns & Co. public finance banker P. Nicholas Hurtgen on charges that he participated in an extortion scheme involving a Chicago-area hospital as it sought state regulatory approval to build a new hospital.

A judicial panel this week ordered the consolidation in a federal court in New York City of seven related class action lawsuits brought by a number of states and localities that allege Wall Street and other firms conspired in anti-competitive price fixing of municipal derivatives and guaranteed investment contracts.

BRADENTON, Fla. — A Jefferson County, Ala., resident yesterday filed a 14-count lawsuit against hundreds of people and firms connected with the county's troubled $3.2 billion sewer debt program.

SAN FRANCISCO — Finance officials in Vallejo, Calif., which filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection last month, told the City Council last week that they are close to an agreement with Union Bank of California to restructure outstanding variable-rate debt.

SAN FRANCISCO - San Diego voters go to the polls today in an election that will serve as a referendum on the financial reforms California's second-biggest city has undertaken since its 2004 pension and municipal disclosure scandal.